The thoughts of a Touch MVP

Recently I ran into some problems when I wanted to buy something online and tried to pay for it by using my Visa card. Every time I reached the checkout section I was presented with a screen asking me for a code generated by my eCode app. Which is weird, since I don't have that code. I don't have that app either. In the past I had to enter my CC details and a personal password and that was that, but all of a sudden I had to use an app?

I figured I did something wrong and paid by using another method. But this happened every time. So I started looking into this by checking the sites (no option 'use eCode app' to be found) and then into my personal profile on the Visa website (also no 'use eCode app' option there...) I did find a lot of information about the for mentioned app but of course: only available on iOs and Android. Not on Windows or Windows Phone.

So I mailed Visa. I wanted to know when they were going to release a WP version because otherwise my Visa card would be pretty useless to me. A couple of days later Visa responded. And the response blew my mind...

Basically they said: "We haven't planned a Windows Phone version of our app. But to accommodate you we have reset your profile so you can use the password again. However, in the near future this possibility will be removed altogether so we hope you have moved to iOs or Android by that time. "

What? So they changed my options to use a Smartphone all the time without asking me? And now they tell me I have to use iOs or Android if I want to keep using their card in the future? What is wrong here?

I am not starting a debate about Windows Phone versus the rest of the world. I am starting a discussion about the arrogance of a company that decides they can decide what people should use. What if you don't have a smartphone at all? Or if your battery runs out? You cannot use the Visa card anymore at that time? What if you happen to have a Blackberry, a Nokia or any other non-supported OS on your device?

Why does Visa think they can decide only people having an Android Smartphone or iPhone are entitled to do online shopping?

I guess my options are clear: cancel my Visa card and move on to a platform that cares about peoples choices, elderly people who don't want to use smartphones, people with limited budgets that cannot afford smartphones, people with limited vision (who cannot really use smartphones) and so on. A lot of people still think (iphone/android) smartphones are very common, but they are not.

Visa apparently doesn't care about the majority of people in the world…